Marketing wisdom suggests you should never change the name of one of the biggest brands overnight. Unless you’re McDonald’s Canada, and Connor McDavid just won the 4 Nations Face-Off.McDonald’s Canada broke conventional rules for a reactive, once-in-a-lifetime moment that set single-day sales records.

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament to
Canadians. The U.S. President's public musing about annexing Canada as the 51st state incited deep-rooted Canadian pride before the final face-off against the USA. When Connor McDavid delivered the game-winning overtime goal for Canada, McDonald's Canada wanted to stamp its brand all over the moment, not just participate. So we got to work.

To connect with authentic Canadian hockey fans, McDonald’s Canada aimed for a lasting expression rather than a fleeting social media spotlight, demonstrating the brand's genuine authenticity.

We did something McDonald’s has never done: a new brand name, new signs, and a new 97c deal on French fries to match Connor’s jersey number. TheMcDavid's restaurant opened in two key cities (Edmonton and Newmarket – Connor McDavid’s hometown, and the home of his pro team, the Oilers) within 96 hours of the final buzzer.

Despite activating this idea amidst one of the most crowded and intense media frenzies in Canadian history, our reactive approach stood head and shoulders above the rest. Fans drove from all over, and lined up for photos, treating it like a national monument. We saw over $1.5M in earned media across 321 unique pieces of coverage, 45M+ earned impressions, sales of +26.6% YOY (French fries +1,080%, +2,837% and +3,667%, respectively during the week), and three days of sales that outperformed the
previous single-day best, with Saturday exceeding the previous record by 42.4%. All with $0
spent in paid media.